Keeneland's leading jockey Joel Rosario making the right moves

Apr. 21, 2013

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LEXINGTON, KY. — Jockey Joel Rosario left California for an East Coast base a year ago in hopes of having exactly the kind of results he’s experiencing now.

The 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic won the $10 mil­lion Dubai World Cup on Animal Kingdom and is on pace to set a spring meet record for victories while riding regularly at Keeneland for the first time. Arguably most important, he’s on Orb, the likely second choice for the May 4 Kentucky Derby, the distance-loving Florida Derby winner who many think is the horse to beat.

Even with missing two days while riding out of town, through Sunday Rosario has amassed 26 victories at Keeneland, to lead the jockey standings over Julien Leparoux, in second place with 15 wins.

“I always thought to come this way, because there is a lot more opportunity here,” said Rosario, who last year won the $1 mil­lion Pacific Classic (Dullahan) and $1 mil­lion Jockey Club Gold Cup (Flat Out) through his new connections. “You have more tracks, more action. Everything is going well, and I couldn’t be more happy than I am right now.”

Heading into Sunday, Rosario trailed Rosie Napravnik 109-105 for most wins in the country. His $10.7 mil­lion in purses, including the Dubai races, dwarfs No. 2 Javier Castellano’s $5.9 mil­lion.

Rosario is so hot that seams in traffic just open for him — both in races and metaphorically.

“His timing is very good,” said trainer Barclay Tagg, who is 2 for 2 with Rosario at Keeneland. “He’s as good a jockey as I’ve seen for coming through the field, making the right move. You see so many of them move through the field and all of a sudden the hole’s closed. I guess he’s got a lot of foresight. He sees what’s going on.”

Rosario and his agent, Ron Anderson, also are taking advantage of opportunities that happen through circumstance.

Rosario was on Orb for the colt’s first five starts. In his debut at Saratoga, Orb reared in the gate at the break, was left far behind the field but came flying to finish third. He threw a wingding in the gate before his next start, broke slowly and lost by 22 lengths. Trainer Shug McGaughey regrouped, and after a respectable fourth, Orb put it all together and hasn’t lost since.

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But after Orb won a 11/8-mile allowance race at Gulfstream, McGaughey didn’t think he’d run back in the Fountain of Youth. Anderson gave a commitment for Rosario in the race to another trainer. John Velazquez got aboard Orb to win that stakes and then the $1 mil­lion Florida Derby.

As it turned out, that made Rosario available to ride Animal Kingdom in Dubai the same day as the Florida Derby. And when Velazquez opted to ride unbeaten Verrazano in the Derby, Rosario got back on Orb.

“It was just kind of a mistake he didn’t ride him the other time,” McGaughey said of Rosario. “It worked out in my favor because we had Johnny for the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby, which we might not have had Joel for the Florida Derby with the Animal Kingdom situation.

“I’m tickled to death to have him. He’s a hot, energetic, smart rider who’s rolling right now.”

Like about every young boy growing up dirt poor in the Dominican Republic, Rosario aspired to be a professional baseball player. (He says he played every position, even pitcher, adding with a laugh, “but not too long. My arm isn’t that strong.”)

But an older brother (he has 12 siblings) who liked to bet the races handicapped Rosario’s diminutive size and encouraged him to pursue a riding career at age 13. Rosario attended the Dominican Republic’s jockey school and started riding at the island’s lone track before coming to the United States in 2006 to ride in Northern California.

Anderson recalls asking his close friend, the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, “Who’s this kid you’re riding up in North California?”

“He says, ‘You better like him,’ ” Anderson said in a pretty fair impersonation of Frankel, “ ‘because you might be working for him some day.’ ”

Rosario joined the bigger Southern California circuit in 2008 and soon was battling Rafael Bejarano for riding titles. He headed East after Santa Anita’s meet ended last spring, soon thereafter teaming with Anderson.

“He’s just different,” Anderson said. “Not just his riding, but he’s just a different kind of person. He doesn’t have an ego. He has a confidence level when you’re around him that he knows he’s really good, but he’s not cocky. It’s not all about him or ‘look at me.’ ”

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The agent said retired racing legend Laffit Pincay, known for his strong finishes on a horse, told him, “He’s the first rider that reminds me of me.”

Anderson has worked on both coasts and for Hall of Famers like Jerry Bailey and Gary Stevens. He says in this era, being in the East gives Rosario a far better chance of being in the brightest lights both nationally and internationally.

“Proof of that is the consideration of ending up on a horse like Animal Kingdom and winning the World Cup,” he said. “If you’re in England or France, Japan or Hong Kong or wherever, you maybe didn’t hear much about this jock. Well you know what? After World Cup night, everybody knows who he is now.”

Rosario will be in his fourth Kentucky Derby, his best finishing being fourth on long shot Make Music for Me in 2010. Orb is his best chance.

“I’m happy to be back on him,” he said Saturday at Keeneland. “Thanks to the trainer and owner to give me the opportunity. I’m really excited, and we’re going for the Kentucky Derby. He’s getting better and better every race.”

Not only would Rosario be the first jockey from the Dominican Republic to win America’s most fabled race, he’s never heard of any other rider from there even riding in the Derby. With Orb, Rosario could cap a huge parlay for the Dominican Republic, if a Kentucky Derby victory could come on the heels of the Caribbean country’s victory in the World Baseball Classic.

“That would be awesome,” Rosario said, adding of how big a story riding a major Derby contender is back home, “It’s going to be pretty big. There are a lot of baseball players in the Dominican Republic, and many basketball players (including former Louisville players Francisco Garcia and Edgar Sosa). But not jockeys. Racing is not big like here.”

Indeed, asked to name the second-best-known Dominican rider in the U.S., Rosario said, “I don’t think anybody. I’ve got to ask that question.”

He hopes his success inspires more Dominican riders, saying, “Something they can follow to say, ‘I can be a jockey, too. I can make enough money to live.’ ”